During our “Adapting Roles” panel Thursday, which was focused on gender and family issues amid the pandemic, an audience member asked panelists if there were any programs they knew of offering help with child care for essential workers who could not stay home.

A former colleague of mine from Minneapolis named Mel who lives in an area that was looted and burned following the death of George Floyd wrote about what we can and must do: “Start those important conversations with yourself and with those who ‘think’ they understand as the first steps toward driving real change.” She said, “Listen and look for the sounds of racism that are often more passive than they are overt,” and asserted that we must no longer agree to disagree or “not rock the boat.” Instead, she said, “We must take a stand. Every damn day.”